(Clearwisdom.net) On December 11, 2004, the deputy mayor of Richmond, Virginia invited Falun Gong practitioners to participate in a local community celebration. The practitioners demonstrated the five exercises on the stage. One staff member working at the event said, "I'm so happy you've come. The exercises are beautiful." During the event, the city government provided a TV to play the Falun Gong exercise instruction videotape.

Falun Gong exercise demonstration

On the day of the event, the city government set up a stage on 25^th Street and several service desks in the nearby Public Utility Building to provide food, toys for children and home safety introductory materials. Falun Gong was the only non-profit organization to set up a booth in the building. The government also provided a TV to play the exercise teaching video.

In the afternoon, five practitioners demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises on the stage accompanied with music, while a Western practitioner spoke about the history of Falun Gong and the persecution in China. Many people were attracted to the peaceful movements and some even imitated the exercises in front of the stage. Many people accepted the printed material.

After the exercise demonstration, many people came to our table to ask for information. One lady asked for many CDs. She said she wanted to give them to friends as a gift. Another lady said that she knew the exercise was very good, and she also asked for a lot of materials.

A man came to our table and looked among all kinds of flyers we had. He picked up one and said, "This is the same as I got in New York City." He said he saw many practitioners parading in the streets, many holding pictures about torture. He asked, "Why did the Chinese government want to persecute you?" The practitioner told him that the Chinese communist party is an autocratic authority that promotes atheism, and does not allows people to have freedom of belief. The Communist party and the then president Jiang Zemin were envious about the popularity of Falun Gong and ordered the practice suppressed.

The man asked for the difference between Falun Gong and other exercises. While talking, the practitioner learned that the man had practiced martial arts for 20 years and wanted to know if Falun Gong could bring him a breakthrough. They talked for a long time and the man said he wanted to give it a try. When the practitioner told him that they could go to the martial arts school to teach Falun Gong, he was very happy.

A new practitioner said that he only started to practice Falun Gong two weeks earlier. He'd heard about the event on the morning of December 11 at the group practice site. He immediately decided to participate in the event and demonstrated the exercises on the stage.

From the invitation of the deputy mayor and recommendations from the director of the multi-cultural office to the attention and encouragement from citizens, the practitioners could feel that the local residents were eager to learn and support Falun Dafa.

The poster of the event uses three images about the Falun Gong exercises